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Ken Gratton14 Sept 2019
NEWS

Sports cars to disappear from our roads, says Audi

Audi executive anticipates the end of the daily driver ripping around a racetrack at the weekend

The trend has been there for a long time: the expanding gulf between 'A to B' commuter cars and hot-shoe sports machines.

In the past that gulf has been driven by the wedge between enthusiasts and non-enthusiasts. Drivers of 'whitegoods appliances' could never see the point of loud, obnoxious cars that were uncomfortable, hard to drive and more often than not costly to run.

Enthusiasts conversely want to enjoy their passion, even if it’s just for a trip to the shops.

In the future, however, the environment will be a key factor in this dichotomy. So says Chris Reinke, the head of Audi Sport customer racing.

Reinke, who serves the needs of Audi owners competing in GT2, GT3, GT4 and TCR programs, foresees that high-performance, fuel-burning sports cars and grand tourers will be relegated to weekend duties on racetracks and rally roads – nothing more.

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“I think when we talk about moving people... we used to take goods across the Atlantic with sailboats – and now we do it with container boats, but it doesn't mean that there's no sailing anymore,” Reinke told carsales the evening before this year's Frankfurt motor show.

“There are actually more sailboats than ever – now for leisure and excitement.

“This is a similar path we will take with motor racing. Driving used to be [about] the possibility of getting from A to B – to transfer us, to commute. But I believe in the future, the commute probably will be... electric; most likely... autonomous driving.

“And therefore it will take the leisure – the passionate bit – of the driving away. Both areas will exist in the future, but they won't overlay anymore.

“I will take my 'commute cabin' to work, but on the weekend I will be missing my driving... and I will go to the racetrack and drive a great Audi Sport customer racing product and enjoy a weekend 'out-on-the-track' day.”

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With some competition cars already running on biofuels like E85, but very few road cars in Australia operating on the ethanol-based product any longer, environmental factors and any sort of social backlash against vehicles that run exclusively on fossil fuels could make motor racing circuits this century's 'speak-easy' for those with anti-social habits.

Reinke believes that driving for fun at the track or on a closed section of road won't incur the wrath of environmentalists in the way that alcohol was demonised by prohibitionists.

“Because it is such a minor percentage of today's regular commute, I think it is acceptable,” Reinke said.

“It's like going drinking; it doesn't always make straight sense, but once a while it's good fun.”

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Written byKen Gratton
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